Nosebleed
by GoldeneyedJohnnycake
Summary: Johnny gets a nosebleed. (Please don't read if you have hemophobia, I wouldn't like to cause any undue distress. I really don't know how to categorize this one either. Maybe 'horror' isn't the right genre. This one is kinda weird and disjointed, to be honest. Feel free to flame this.)
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** _ **S. E. Hinton owns all rights to the characters in The Outsiders and her other stories, I only own my imagination.**_

A sudden sneeze woke me from a dead sleep, and I flinched when I felt something warm trickle down my face. Flicking my lighter open, I rubbed my hand against my face to reveal blood. _Not again_ , I thought. Since my old man broke my nose a week or so ago, I'd been getting nosebleeds off and on. I looked down at my shirt and grimaced as the thick bloodstains were illuminated by the fire. _So much for sleeping tonight, I guess._

I cupped my hands around my mouth so it wouldn't get all over the carpet, not that it would matter much, and stumbled through the darkness into the bathroom. The flickering dim light wasn't the greatest to see by, but I could view the damage. Dried blood was caked around my nostrils and rusty stains formed little rivers across my cheeks. _I bet my pillow is quite the sight._ I lit a cigarette to steady my hand as I worked to clean up. I hated the sight of blood, but I had no choice. I had to at least get the bleeding under control, or I'd pass out again.

I soaked a rag in the tap water and pressed my fingers firmly on either side of the bridge of my nose. I wiped my face with the rag, feeling lightheaded as blood gushed like a red clay waterfall out of my nostrils and into the sink. Bracing myself against the counter, I coughed up the blood I'd swallowed. Then, I couldn't stop. Everything in my body felt wrong as I retched and bled all over the bathroom, and I turned on a cold shower. _Funny, I don't remember wearing my jacket in here._

I woke up in the lot, drenched to the bone from a sudden summer thunderstorm. Even though the air was thick and humid, I shivered as I stumbled to Pony's house. Their couch would be waiting, and I would finally be free of the nightmares. I sniffled a little bit, running my hand beneath my nose, and didn't notice the blood dripping over my fingers.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** _ **S. E. Hinton owns all rights to the characters in The Outsiders and her other stories, I only own my imagination.**_

"Hold him still, it hasn't stopped bleeding yet." Soda held my head, yawning, as Darry tried to cauterize my nose. "Have you seen a doctor yet? Because the bleeding should've stopped by now."

"No."

"Why not, Johnny? This is serious, you know. You could die if this keeps up."

"I don't have money."

"There are clinics who'll take you on an emergency basis. Let's see how this works. Breathe in now."

"It's still bleeding, Darry." Soda said.

"Okay, so that didn't work. Hold this over his nose while I call an ambulance."

I watched dizzily as Darry ran out of the bathroom. The tile and walls were so bright, it hurt my eyes. _Staring into the sun is better than this._ I closed them, and Soda caught me before I fell back into the bathtub. "Hang on, Johnnycake. It'll be just a little while longer, okay?"

"Could you turn the light off? It hurts." I gurgled. My mouth tasted like pennies.

"I need it to see. Holy shit, Darry, get in here!"

"The ambulance is on its way. Did he bite his tongue?"

"No, he just turned white and almost fell in the bathtub again. I don't know where that blood's coming from. Is he okay?" Soda's voice sounded far away.

"I'm thirsty." I managed to croak before keeling over.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** _ **S. E. Hinton owns all rights to the characters in The Outsiders and her other stories, I only own my imagination.**_

I wasn't thirsty anymore when I woke up. In fact, I didn't feel much of anything except the tubing everywhere. The whole gang was staring at me when I opened my eyes. Most of them were still wearing pajamas, but Dally was wearing the clothes from earlier that day. I remembered the tobacco stains on that shirt. "Can he talk to us?" Steve whispered.

"I dunno. Look at all the tubes and things. Can he even move?" Two-Bit wondered.

"Shh, you're gonna wig him out! Has your mom seen him yet?"

"No, she's still in the waiting room. I'll go and fetch her."

I couldn't talk or move. Whatever they'd given me made my body feel like a ton of bricks, and even though I didn't feel tired, I knew I was. Two-Bit's mom came in looking like she'd been crying. They all looked that way, but maybe the drugs were playing tricks on me. I didn't hear much of what they said, but I did hear Mrs. Mathews repeating "Poor baby," over and over. _Pete and Repeat are in a boat. Pete falls out, so who is left?_

One by one they all left me, the same scene playing over again, like a movie that's stuck. I felt a sticky warmth near my right nostril. _Repeat._

Nurses and doctors scurried in and out like the mice in science class, tittering to each other, and twitching their whiskers disapprovingly. "His red blood cell count is low. What's his type?" _A-, Nurse._ "Just give him O-, and he'll be fine. I'll keep an eye on him." I watched as they wheeled in another IV, and stuck it in my arm. "There, that should tide you over for a while. Press the button if you need anything, honey." I needed to get out of there, but I couldn't move. Something was wrong, I just knew it. That doctor kept on talking to me, trying to make me feel better, probably, but I was too tired to listen. He enjoyed comic books much more than a grown man his age should. I closed my eyes. "Yes, I suppose you should sleep. You need your energy for the tests."


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** _ **S. E. Hinton owns all rights to the characters in The Outsiders and her other stories, I only own my imagination.**_

Test after test, hour after hour, and they had no idea what was wrong. _Maybe I'm dying._ Doctors poked and prodded, nurses attempted to cauterize and sanitize, but nothing helped. "Does it look like Hemophilia?"

"No, I hit his knee to test the reflex, and there was no bruising."

"Nothing at all? What about a tumor, then?"

"No, Doctor, his nasal passages are free from any unusual blockages."

"Perhaps he sticks his fingers up there when you're not paying attention, Nurse."

"Doctor, please! He's sixteen years old, and too mature for that type of behavior. Besides, he has iron deficiency anemia, and couldn't lift his hand to his nose if you paid him."

 _That sounds more like home, just with less beatings and more liver. Ugh._ I could've done without it, but they made me eat it anyway. I didn't mind the spinach so much, but that liver just about killed me each time. I threw it up the first time they fed it to me, and that provoked a whole new round of tests for everything from dehydration to ulcers. None of those were pleasant either. However mundane this seemed, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was off about the place. If you'd asked me what it was, I couldn't tell you, because I didn't exactly know. I just had a gut feeling that things weren't what they said on paper.

The nurses drugged me nearly the whole time, which I didn't think was supposed to happen for a nosebleed, no matter how severe it was. But, what do I know? I'm just a sixteen year old JD. They let my friends visit, but none of them seemed to stick around long. I guess they had better things to do. Pony almost said something to me once about one of the nurses or doctors, but he was quickly showed the door. I was tired, the orderly claimed; which was true, but I wanted to talk to him more than I wanted to sleep.

My mom tried to see me, and they wouldn't let her, which I appreciated, but they didn't even let me know she was coming. I just heard her screeching from down the hall "What do you mean I can't see him?! Little bastard won't even tell us he's in the hospital, just goes and expects us to carry on like always. Well let me tell you something…" _Shut up, would you? You don't care, you just wanna stir up trouble. I can't hear my own thoughts with all that caterwauling. Just shut up…_

Waking up after being drugged is the hardest thing I think I've ever had to do. I never feel quite awake afterwards, and everything seems so strange. Maybe it's something in the medicine. It kinda feels like being hung-over. That's how I felt when they discharged me- all weak and wobbly. Two-Bit and Dally had to hold me up. The doctors and nurses never told me if they'd found what was causing the nosebleeds. They just stopped all of a sudden, like they were never there in the first place. I've avoided that hospital ever since then. I didn't like the look of it in the daytime.


End file.
